Cannot Format External SSD

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Level 1

8 points

Cannot Format External SSD

Hello,

new Mac user here.

So my Windows laptop broke down so I removed its SSD and turned it into an external drive. When I connected the external SSD to my Mac I could view and transfer files so I know it wasn't corrupted or anything. The issue is that when I tried using Disk Utility to format it from NTFS to exFAT I got all sorts of errors.

When trying to "erase" I get error -69879 (couldn't open disk)

When trying to use "first aid" I get error -69845 (file system verify or repair failed)

The external SSD is Samsung 850 EVO 120GB .

Do I need to download any drivers?

Any help to make my drive usable again would be appreciated.

MacBook

Posted on May 8, 2020 2:32 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Malcolm J. Rayfield

Level 7

23,059 points

May 8, 2020 6:28 PM in response to nn9314

Set View (Top-left of Disk Utility window) to "Show All Devices" then click the Erase button and select the SSD drive in the left column. Be sure to select the drive (all the way at the left), not a volume indented beneath it.

Set Format to "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and Scheme to "GUID Partition Map".

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